the strangest fish

[MitchCalcutt]

Papuan Jaw fish, the strangest i have ever caught.
Weipa 2002
Whats yours?16050

[dogsbody]

Gday Mitch, Caught this in close at Wello.

Paraplesiops poweri. (Roundhead family)


Dave.

[swaters]

http://www.ausfish.com.au/vforum/Yay 006thats prety wierd

[bluefin59]

I caught this ugly little sucker at mud on a placcy in winter i cant remember what it was .....matt

[mik01]

Papuan Jaw fish, the strangest i have ever caught.
Weipa 2002
Whats yours?16050


wow!
I caught this fish yesterday in the bay!
had no idea what it was, but damn it was ugly.

got pic of it too...

[dodgyone]

Papuan Jaw fish, the strangest i have ever caught.
Weipa 2002
Whats yours?16050

Get a few of them off Darwin if you happen to get off the good ground and onto mud. Huge mouth that can eat baits nearly as big as them. Strange looking things.

[mik01]

slimy ugly little suckers....

hope they're not protected as it swallowed the placcy deep down and died while I was trying to retrieve it....

[dodgyone]

Nah, common as on the mud. They always seem to keep their mouth wide open till the hooks are out. Huge mouth too so usually easy to get the hook out.

[bdowdy]

strange fish fellas

[theclick]

EEEk, wouldnt touch it with a 10 foot pole

[Ryan.S]

Only a mother could love ay.

[loophole]

so one of those papuan jewfish was caught in the bay ?

i assumed the were more caught up north.

[loophole]

so one of those papuan jewfish was caught in the bay ?

i assumed the were more caught up north.:-/

[mik01]

yup - check out the pic - was so ugly that I threw on a glove to handle it.
wasn't sure if it was poisonous or not - and couldnt get a grip.

real slimy skin and no scales i dont think.

[tigermullet]

I caught this ugly little sucker at mud on a placcy in winter i cant remember what it was .....matt


Isn't that a small stonefish??

[MitchCalcutt]

yup - check out the pic - was so ugly that I threw on a glove to handle it.
wasn't sure if it was poisonous or not - and couldnt get a grip.

real slimy skin and no scales i dont think.
That is a Jaw fish, well from the jaw fish family anyway. I'd like a copy of that pic if you can e-mail it to me. mcalcutt@bigpond.net.au
Mitch

[choppa]

Isn't that a small stonefish??

whoooops theres goes the coffee;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ,,,,,,,lol

[tigermullet]

I was referring to the pic by Bluefin - post number 4 on this thread. That doesn't look like a Jawfish to me. Pectoral fins too long etc. Another species??

[groverwa]

BF59

looks like a stone fish

Mike

[bluefin59]

I believe it was a scorpion fish deffinately not a stone fish i caught one of them before as well i'll check the grants guide to be sure ...matt

[tigermullet]

Hey Bluefin, you checked Grant's yet? It's driving me nuts. I have been all over the web and now cannot make up my mind whether the fish you caught was a member of the stone fish or scorpion family.

[mik01]

Tiger - Mitch rang me last night and confirmed that it was a Scorpion. mine was a Darwin Jawfish - rare as hens balls in Moreton Bay apparently!

[tigermullet]

Damn! Congratulations anyway. It's nice to find something that unusual.

[mik01]

yeah - apparently if they can use my low res picture, it will be published in a fishing mag next month.

[Sea-Dog]

I caught this ugly little sucker at mud on a placcy in winter i cant remember what it was .....matt

I reckon it is Inimicus Caledonicus (Bearded Ghoul, Caledonian Stinger, Chinese Ghoul, Demon Stinger)

http://www.amonline.net.au/fishes/students/focus/inimicus.htm

http://www.austmus.gov.au/fishes/fishfacts/fish/icaledon6.htm

Ask anyone who has worked on trawlers in Qld.

Bloody painful buggers of things. First time I got hit by one (under my thumb-nail) I ended up hallucinating this wonderful music.

A bit of "Stingose" and a sleep knocked the effect on the head.

Cantankerous little mongrels too. If you touch them on the side of the body, they will lean their spines that way, then flick their tail to try and get the spines into you.

[Cammy]

very interesting sea dog.

cam

[MitchCalcutt]

It Hasn't been definatly confirmed yet But it looks like a Chinese Stinger fish related to the Stone fish, and a Darwin Jaw fish. Don't know yet if pic's can be used in low res.
Mitch

[snapperbasher]

hey mik01 i caught the same fish as you yesterday in the pearl channel. where did you catch yours?

[Dirtysanchez]

Weirdest fish I haven't caught, but frightened the schizens out of me was about 15 years ago, about 5 miles off Gosford, in NSW.. We were burleying up to bring the snappa on, and a gigantic sun fish, almost as big as my 15ft half cabin, and it seemed to be floating up towards the surface, directly below our boat !

Needless to say we upped anchor and let the current move us off the mark a bit

[kingtin]

hey mik01 i caught the same fish as you yesterday in the pearl channel. where did you catch yours?

The dumb bugger got caught twice? ;)

kev

Yesterday in my local Target, I went into the household bit and saw a non-stick frying pan with a price sticker on it. Who the f**k are they trying to kid?

[Owen]

This is the ugliest critter I've caught. Museum reckoned it's an eastern frog fish

http://www.pictoweave.com/yabbfiles/Attachments/uglybastard.jpg

[mik01]

hey mik01 i caught the same fish as you yesterday in the pearl channel. where did you catch yours?

eastern side of peel island.

[vector]

we caught a stargazer once as kids, was very strange just sunk into the sand when we let it go.

[mattooty]

250kg queensland groper found floating dead down the clarence a few days ago (northern nsw). There have been hundreds caught around the bridges between 200-400kg but fishing for them has been non existant for 30 years so its a real eye opener looking at a fish that has a mouth you could sit in.

[MitchCalcutt]

250kg queensland groper found floating dead down the clarence a few days ago (northern nsw). There have been hundreds caught around the bridges between 200-400kg but fishing for them has been non existant for 30 years so its a real eye opener looking at a fish that has a mouth you could sit in.
Hi mattooty,
sad yes, I lived in Cooktown about 9 years ago, three Groper were found speared floating a hundred mt from the main jetty. Locals knew who did it but couldn't prosecute.
Mitch

[Lutjanus johnii]

Looks like a cartoon fish with it's big eyes

[trev1]

Weirdest one I caught was a Numbfish. didn't get a photo but it looked like a bike seat with the smallest tail. I wasn't too sure what it was so I cut the line.

[bluefin59]

Seadog and co mitch has been intouch and he beleives its a scorpion fish of some sort i sent him some hi res pictures and i beleive it may go into trailer boat magazine in some sort of a story that is being written ,maybe mitch can confirm the name by now as i am not sure ....matt

[MitchCalcutt]

Weirdest one I caught was a Numbfish. didn't get a photo but it looked like a bike seat with the smallest tail. I wasn't too sure what it was so I cut the line.
That was a smart move Trev, I grabed one once when i was about 9, the volts that out of that thing was as bad as grabing a spark plug lead while the lawn mower is running.

On page 2 i have writen some more on your fish bluefin 59

[mik01]

hey Mitch - would you believe that we caught another one of these Jawfish today? see pic.

GazzaB caught it, this time we were on the western side of Peel near the houseboat.

[MitchCalcutt]

hey Mitch - would you believe that we caught another one of these Jawfish today? see pic.

GazzaB caught it, this time we were on the western side of Peel near the houseboat.
There must be a local colony of them around that area.
Mitch

[Sandman]

Just to throw it out there and i am refering to the scorpian fish look alike, Has any thought been given to flathead, i have seen similar ones diving around New Island in PNG, there is publications on this specieces but how far south they travel i am not to sure? Certainly is a strange fish . I will see if i can locate a decription.
Mick

[major-defect]

I've caught one of those jawfish up here[mission beach] of the islands before.Ugly suckers.

[bluefin59]

Mitch did you get the second lot of photos i sent you they should have been 1.5 mb or there abouts thanks matt..

[MitchCalcutt]

Mitch did you get the second lot of photos i sent you they should have been 1.5 mb or there abouts thanks matt.. no matt i didn't get anything that big. 1 at 87kb was the biggest. i haven't been told yet if they can or can't use them at that size.
talk soon
mitch

[barra king]

yuk them fish are gross i would not tounch that with a 29 foot pole

[barra king]

thats a ugly fish i would not tounch it

[Sandman]

BF59 That appears to a bearded ghoul or demon stinger Inimicus caledonicus (Sauvage), Grants Guide to Fishes 1982 pg 743.
Mick

[Sandman]

This may interest a few!! BF59 looks similar to your fish

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22826873-5003419,00.html

[bluefin59]

Similar but definately not the same ,i just wish i took more photos from different angles all i know is those bloody soft plastics catch all sorts of weird things ...matt

[MitchCalcutt]

This may interest a few!! BF59 looks similar to your fish

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22826873-5003419,00.html
I'm not surprised that fish hasn't been seen in Australia for 100 years, on a rocky bottom it would blend in perfectly.
Mitch

[Sandman]

Its a wonder know one diving has been grabed by the little bugger :)